Doctors advocate less invasive ways to diagnose breast cancer

By EMMA OGUTU
Capital News Service

LANSING – Surgically removing a lump in the breast may seem like the best first course of action when it’s detected but it isn’t always necessary, new research shows.

A national study by doctors from University of Florida, Gainesville, indicates that the rate of open surgery biopsies – surgically removing lumps – remains higher than appropriate despite many advantages associated with less surgically aggressive procedures.

But that may not be the picture in Michigan.

“Needle biopsies dominate in major medical institutions in Michigan,” said Vincent Cimmino, professor of surgery at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor.

Cimmino said that minimally invasive procedures are the widely accepted standards of practice in larger hospitals in the state.

“Even when a lump that cannot be detected by routine examination is found during mammography, the general practice is to use X-rays to identify and lead to the lesion, using a thin hollow needle and a wire to extract tissue samples for diagnosis,” he said.

But certain situations call for open surgery.

When a lump is detected near the chest wall or around the nipples, surgeons follow medical guidelines that require open surgery biopsies, Cimmino said.

E. J. Siegl, a senior nurse consultant with the state’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program, has been involved with breast cancer management for several years.

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